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Quick Start Guide to Microsoft Teams

What is Teams:

• A hub for teamwork that in uses the Microsoft environment (co-authoring files, chat, cloud, tracking, mentions and notifications). Think of teams as a combination of Basecamp, Skype and File Cloud or Dropbox all in one spot. 

• Click here to view a brief video on some of the features and uses: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/video-what-is-microsoft-teams-422bf3aa-9ae8-46f1-83a2-e65720e1a34d

• Teams can also be used as a desktop app. To download the app: https://teams.microsoft.com/downloads

  • Keep in mind, there are some differences in the Teams App and using Teams on a Browser. The functionality is constantly changing, so check in with the Microsoft documentation before deciding which to use.

Logging in:

Start by visiting www.office.com and logging in using your NETID. Once you have logged in to the portal, the top banner section you will see several apps (keep in mind these apps dynamically change based on your usage). If you do not see Teams in the list of icons, click on the “all apps” icon and search for teams 

• Click here to watch a brief video on how to log in to Team: https://www.loom.com/share/b515b6eb72674145b55ca73202536e8e

• Joining / Creating a team:

  • To join or create a team, once logged into Teams in your browser, click on the “join a team” button in the top right of the browser window. This will take you to a new window where you have three different options.

    • Option 1: You can create your own team (more on this later)

    • Option 2: Join a team with a code (this would have been shared with you from someone who has already created the team)

    • Option 3: Join a team that someone has invited you to that may be pending acceptance

Team notifications:

Notifications, AKA “Activity Feed” is a place to view all recent activity pertaining to you and your projects in Microsoft Teams. This tool functions much like Basecamp’s “Hey!” section where you can view any alerts pertaining to “@mentions” or flagged projects. Unlike Basecamp, Teams has many different ways to view your activity, including a filter.

• View your Activity: After signing in, on the top left-hand side of your browser, look for and click on the activity icon .  Once you have moved into the Activity page, you will notice the word ”feed”, in the upper left side of the screen.

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Below the word feed, you will see all activity that pertains to you and your projects/teams. From here, you can click on any of the items to view them. As you click through the items, teams will take you to that item and all the related activity for that item in the main viewing window. If you prefer to view only activity to you, simply click on the down facing arrow beside “feed” and change the drop down to “My Activity”. This will only show items that are specific to you.

• Change your activity filter: You can change your activity filter by clicking on the filter just to the right of the “Feed/My Activity” section. This filter will allow you do a search, or if you click the ellipsis, you can filter based on some common categories such as:

To drill down deeper and narrow your search, try pairing a search term with one of the of the options above.

Useful functionality in Chat

The chat feature works a lot like other chat clients such as Skype or Slack. To access the chat feature in Teams, simply navigate there from the menu sidebar (where you found Activity) and simply click on chat. Once you have selected chat, you can view recent chats by clicking on recent, or all contacts by clicking on contacts.

Groups:

In the contacts section, you can create new contact groups by clicking on “new contact group” at the bottom of the screen. This is helpful if you are looking to put together groups of people who may be working on the same project, or if you are looking to better organize your contacts (for instance: all of the LMS’s, MM team, Managers, ID’s ect).

Functionality:

There are several powerful features that can be used in the chat feature of Teams. For instance, once a chat has been started with a colleague, you may notice a tool bar along the bottom of the window. Here you can add functionality and depth to your conversation by adding:

• Formatting: Include highlighting, graphs, code snippets, tables, and links (along with more basic text editing formatting tools)

• Urgency: Add an urgent notification along with your message. This will mark your message as important, or if tagged as urgent the recipient will be notified every two minutes for twenty minutes (be very careful with this one!).

• Attach a file: This is a great feature as attaching an editable file such as a word document can be added to the chat, opened in real time and edited by all parties in the chat instead of making edits and sending them back and forth. The functionality becomes more powerful when all parties continue the chat while editing the file.

• Adding a personal touch: Add stickers and Gif’s (from Giphy) to show your flare

• Create meetings and meeting places (channels or chats) to set a date and time to meet with a select person or people.

Some of the other great features about chat is that you can invite more people into your chat as your ideas grow. Do this by clicking on the add member button in the top right of the chat window: 

Much like Skype, you can also initiate voice and video chat by clicking on the respective buttons: 

File / Activity Tracking: Another powerful tool you can utilize in the chat feature is the “File / Activity” section at the top of the page. When you click on Activity you can see the activity of the people. This way you can see if that person has uploaded any files, added to the chat or made an edit on a file. By clicking on “Files” you have a full overview of all of the files that have been shared within the chat including editable documents.

Sharing files and creating documents

Interested in sharing and co-authoring files? Simply drag a file into a chat or into your team group. Any editable Microsoft file can be opened in Teams be any member and can be edited or commented on. To do this, simply drag a file from your computer into the chat or group window in the browser or the Teams app. The file will be accessible from the chat window by clicking on it. It can also be downloaded from here as well. All files will be stored and accessible from the “Files” tab. Note, there is no folder structure to files, so it is recommended to use this feature as a short-term solution to working with files.

Click here to watch a video:  https://www.loom.com/share/183958b9853847698980ef67c728b062

Booking and running meetings in Teams

Joining a Meeting: To Join a meeting begin by opening Microsoft Teams in your browser or the Teams App. Once Teams is open, navigate to the “Calendar” icon on the left side of the screen. Here you will have an overview of your week (or day). If you have been invited to a meeting and it is taking place soon, simply click on the block in the calendar to reveal more information about the appointment. From here you can click the “join button” see a list of participants, open a chat by clicking “Chat with Participants”, or cancel the meeting by clicking “Cancel Meeting”. This will send a notification out to let the other participants know that the meeting has been canceled.

Click Here to view a short video: https://www.loom.com/share/b0e4038f92c14e8ca4f446cf5a56b100

Booking a Meeting:

Begin by navigating to your calendar. Click the “New Meeting” button on the top right side of the screen .  Next, title your meeting and add a location if necessary. Note, you can also select a specific channel that you want the meeting to take place in, for instance a group that your meeting is for. Invite participants by clicking in the Invite People” field and begin typing names.  Once you have curated your list of participants, you can reach out to individuals by clicking on their name and staring a private chat or meeting if need. Change you date and time as needed and click schedule. Once you click schedule, the meeting will be sent out. Don’t worry, you can always update the times if needed, and participants will be notified in the ”Activity” section of Teams. 

Click here to view a short video:

https://www.loom.com/share/7fd48993044f4d3bab9ada91f2809f9e

Participating in a meeting:

Once you have joined the meeting you have a few options as a presenter or as a participant. Simply hover over the screen to bring up a menu where you can: turn on or off your camera, mute your microphone, share your screen show more options (settings, meeting notes, full screen etc). There is also an option to show meeting notes as well as chat and participants.  When the meeting is over, you have the option to view the meeting notes, files, whiteboard or recording from your recent chats. This meeting will stay open and accessible for as long as you like, allowing you to use this space to meet again. The great part about this is that you can easily pick up where you left off, or new participants who join can easily catch up on the history of the previous meeting.

Click here to view a short video:

https://www.loom.com/share/db99a62541f14337a52108e29125a3c0

Teams mobile app

Microsoft Resources

For a more in-depth look at the functionality of Microsoft Teams, check out some of their easily digestible documentation at:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/microsoft-teams-video-training-4f108e54-240b-4351-8084-b1089f0d21d7